


Of Tears and Cough Drops

by loveliesinwakanda



Series: You're My Soft Spot [1]
Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Disney References, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Michelle and Ned Give Great Hugs, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Sick Peter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 23:43:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11634405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveliesinwakanda/pseuds/loveliesinwakanda
Summary: After helping out Earth's mightiest heroes when he probably shouldn't have, Peter not only has a fever but a broken leg. Luckily, Ned and MJ are there to keep Peter from slinging webs for at least as long as it takes them to see who cries the easiest. YouTube challenges weren't exactly what Banner meant when he said take it easy but it couldn't hurt, right?





	Of Tears and Cough Drops

“This is stupid,” Michelle emphasized for the second time. The two teenaged boys didn’t listen to her anymore the second time, still gleefully scrolling through the video site to find a suitable challenge. They were over at Peter’s apartment. His aunt had to pull another double shift and due to the injury Spidey got helping out the Avengers last night, he’d been on bed rest.

MJ and Ned had been contacted by… someone regarding him. MJ couldn’t tell. All she knew was she woke up to a message telling her Peter needed her and Ned to watch him for a day or two while stating that the school had been told they were helping Mr. Stark with a special program. Apparently, the web-slinger hadn’t bothered to mention to anyone he was running a fever before dawning the suit and jumping into action.

_For such a smart boy Peter could really be an idiot._

MJ supposed she should be happy he had moved from trying to jump out the window to swing the streets to wanting to watch sad videos as a challenge.

“Oh, come one, MJ,” Ned laughed as Peter looked over the options. “It’ll be fun. Unless of course you think you’ll lose.” He knew MJ never backed down from a challenge, it was a tad sneaky but all of them had their moments.

The girl narrowed her eyes. She scooted closer to Peter, who had the laptop resting on his legs. It was tilted oddly, considering one leg had a cast and the other didn’t. She thought she say the teens cheeks dust with pink, but she brushed it of as wishful thinking or a symptom of healing. Possibly both. “Say that after you cry, Ned.”

Peter rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the heat radiating from MJ. Her arm brushed his as she pointed to a specific video. _Was she always this warm? Was he just cold from the sickness?_

“That one looks interesting, it’s like five minutes longer then all the others.” She pointed to one, no real thumbnail to show what they were getting themselves into.

Without waiting for Ned’s input or even really thinking, he immediately clicked the link. It took only a moment to buffer before he paused it, wanting to clarify before they preceded. “Okay, rules?”

MJ chuckled as Ned answered him. “Dude, it’s a ‘try not to cry’ video. Those are pretty self-explanatory.”

“Yeah. Got that part. First to cry loses or are we playing until all of us cry?”

The girl thought for a moment. “Last woman standing.”

“Or man.”

“Keep dreaming, Tiger.”

Peter ducked his head, both to hide his blush and avoid Ned’s confused expression at MJ’s use of ‘tiger’. She’d said it before, but usually she didn’t say it around people. The first time she said it he thought he would die of a mixture of embarrassment and odd joy.

It had been the day she found out for sure he was Spider-Man. About a week or two into the new school year he was in the school after hours. He had run out of his webs the night before and needed to stock up. Usually, he would head up to the Avengers compound but he had a hint that something would go on later tonight and he didn’t have time. MJ had been sitting in the lab, beakers and chemicals ready as if expecting him.

 _“_ _I noticed Spidey wasn_ _’_ _t swinging as much last night and figured he needed to stock up._ _”_ She had motioned to the indigents on the table, which seemed to be at least double what he needed or a single batch. _“_ _I took the liberty of convincing the teacher to let me use more than usual for a special experiment. Face it, tiger_ _…_ _You just hit the jackpot!_ _”_

“Tiger…?” Ned’s questioning voice drew Peter off of Memory Lane. He finally looked at Ned to see he looked more amused than anything else.

“Yes,” MJ spoke with her deadpan tone. “It’s a mammal in the feline family tree. Can we please get back to the challenge and not different nicknames I have for my friends?”

If MJ had heightened hearing, she would have noticed Ned mumbling a “Sounds more than a little friendly.” Peter did, so he hit his friend hard enough for both of them.

He pressed play, leaning back against the headboard as the sad music started playing. Ned was too his left, leaning against the wall with his shoulder. MJ had been about to lean back before she hesitated. She adjusted herself a bit so when she was leaning back she would rest against Peter.

“It’s easier to see from this angle.” She reasoned lowly.

Peter nodded slowly, fighting the urge to rest his hand on her side. He still didn’t half the whole sticking thing figured out and he really didn’t want MJ only sitting next to him with his arm around her because she got stuck there.

Ned glanced over. _So this is what it_ _’_ _s like to be a third wheel._

 

 

Ned cried first, as MJ had predicted. To his credit, he lasted the first two clips and half way through the third one. In the end, a video of a U.S. Navy Seal returning to his kids and black lab did him in. He grabbed the tissues off the night stand faster than MJ though possible and promptly blew his nose like he was the one with a fever.

“That’s just,” he had started before blowing his nose once again. He looked up at the other two teens. “How are you not crying?!”

Peter laughed. “It makes me happy, but I’m not gonna cry over it.”

MJ nodded in agreement, reaching up slowly to put her hand on Peter’s forehead to check his temperature. The boy sighed, he found it more endearing then annoying that she had done this throughout the day. This was probably the fiftieth time since she came in that she’d done this, even though Peter’s body had pretty much eliminated the illness. It’s like she forgot the whole super healing thing.

“Do you need any more cough drops?” she asked easily, reaching for the packet at the foot of the bed. Ned and MJ had realized most over-the-counter medicine did nothing for him and his quick metabolism, so they had resulted to giving him cough drops to ease the hurt in his throat. It helped a lot earlier, but to be honest he hadn’t felt bad for a good few hours.

“I’m fine,” he laughed easily. He grabbed the wrist of the hand she had still pressed against his forehead. “Promise.”

MJ looked away with a roll of her eyes. “Dork.”

“I thought he was ‘tiger’.”

“Shut up,” they both demanded of the chuckling boy with tear stains still on his face, it wasn’t nearly as threatening when they were both laughing as they said it.

“Play it, Parker.” She smiled.

They continued watching the videos, Ned crying at a few more here and there. But the others never really shed a tear until-.

“Oh, this isn’t fair…” MJ whispered more to herself then to either of the others, she instinctively turned toward her human pillow as he sniffled while thinking the same thing.

“How did they get this online? I thought Disney wouldn’t let-! Ellie-!” Peter turned toward MJ as the familiar animated face showed on his screen, in messy hair and missing tooth glory.

“This was abuse. Why would you put this in a kid’s movie?”

“Nope.” Ned stood after crawling to get off by the foot of the bed, walking toward the door. “Nope. Not Up. I will be back when the world makes sense or when I get something for us to eat. Not watching this.”

Peter and MJ sat with only the sad video playing, both of their eyes glued to the screen.

“Why’d they have to put in when they met though?” her voice had cracked and Peter could see her eyes welling with tears. Peter wasn’t in a better position. The had both somewhat curled into each other as though that would somehow change the story’s ending. They were both half watching the scene and half hiding into each other from the inevitable tragic ending.

Peter felt her tears on his shoulder before she reached up for his face again. He thought she was trying to check his temperature so he automatically lowered his head so she could, she actually was wiping a tear for his cheek. “Guess we both lose, tiger.” She chuckled, crying a little more as she saw Ellie in the hospital room.

“Technically we both were the last ones standing.” He mumbled, eyes on Carl as he broke the glass to fix the tire. He didn’t feel like he had lost at all. He got to spend the day with his closest friends, he got… whatever this was. If his leg would heal, he would be on cloud nine.

“I guess we win then.”

“Yeah, we win.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? I'm thinking of possibly writing one with the Avengers but I'm not sure. Thanks for reading!


End file.
